Five Minute Intro To… CROSSROADS

There is so much EXTRAORDINARY TALENT coming out of North Queensland, we here at Girl HQ wanted to start introducing it to the world. So we caught up with the gorgeous German goddess Ilona Bienkiewicz from Crossroads…

Who are you, how did you meet and when did you decide to start a band?Hi I’m Ilona. I sing and play guitar in THE ONE AND ONLY Roots/Rock/Reggae band called CROSSROADS.Dylan (drummer) and I actually met on stage. I played a tune on the acoustic at The Old Courthouse when he and a couple of others joined me and I knew there and then that HE IS THE ONE. 🙂We played together for a while before we joined forces with Col (lead guitar) and Bob (bass) in May 2013.

If you had to describe your sound and aesthetic to the uninitiated, what would you say? A high energy Roots/Rock/Reggae sonic love explosion where a tidal wave of sonic bliss, body shaking rhythms and soul cleansing goodness leaves your mind expanded and every molecule of your soul screaming for more!!! Yeah conscious shit you know. 😉

What’s been your most memorable gig to date, and why?Ahm all of them! Our first gig at Palm Creek was amazing! People flash mobbed the stage and we all just jumped around and blissed out to one of our tracks called Now O’clock. I love that there was no boundaries between audience and CROSSROADS. We united!! It became a thing since and when I went wireless it opened up a whole new world to me and now I can go and watch my own band play while dancing with the crowd. 🙂Then there was a gig we played for NQ ROOTS CONNECTION at the Courthouse. You know when you are just in that zone and everything you do just feels right? Yeah one of those! And then my beautiful Mama came all the way from Germany.. see what I mean? ALL OF THEM!

If you could record a track with any artist living or dead – which track, which artist, and why?I’d throw a band together with Carter Beauford on drums, Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page swapping leads, Victor Wooten on bass and Janis Joplin backing me up. The track would be called Cosmic Fusion. Why? Cause!

What would you say is the most challenging thing for up and coming bands in regional Queensland?Challenges are just an opportunity to get creative and grow. But compared to Europe where I’m from there is just not many people in Australia and covering big distances between cities can make it difficult when it comes to touring. But again.. define challenge. Sooo much to see and experience between those cities! And if you can’t move an audience of two people you will face the real challenge when you play to a bigger audience.

You launched your full length album last year – how did that go?AMAZING!!!!!!!It has always been a dream for all of us to release AN ALBUM! 😉One that you proudly put into people’s hands knowing you said what you wanted to say and most importantly that you had something to say! To share your creation must be one of the greatest feeling and we are so proud of the people that helped us making it happen like those who donated to our crowdfunding, our producer Luke Green from Green Studios, Sam Wright for capturing the drums beautifully, Chanel Baran and Sarah Allen for the artwork, friends, families.. so many behind this little shiny piece you can now celebrate. And we are!! We are celebrating the shit out of it. come join the party!

What’s your favorite song off the album, and the meaning behind it?It changes weekly and at the moment it’s WE R 1. It’s about coming together in unity and not being to quick to judge. Everyone holds their own story and who knows how you’d walk in someone else’s shoes. When we accept everyone as a mirror (and yes I also mean this one neighbor of yours that just won’t stop pissing you off) the real healing can begin. Everyone comes with a lesson and everyone is a teacher in their own way.

Where can we see you in the near future? We are going to be opening up for Donavon Frankenreiter at the Blues&Roots Festival in Townsville which really is a dream coming true as one of my first songs I’ve ever learned on guitar is a song by that dude! WOW!And then we are off to WINTERMOON FESTIVAL and we can’t wait to meet and dance with the people as we have heard so many good things about this gathering.

Any plans for records? Singles? Tours? Festivals?Absolutely. Tour the world of course, starting up and down the coast.We just released AN ALBUM and ANOTHER ALBUM is nearly ready to be recorded as the creative flow never stops with us. But first of all we happily play a couple of festivals before we release a single in July this year with the help of Matt O’Connor and there is something about the distributors of AC/DC and other exciting stuff… 😉But most importantly play to as many people as we can!!!!

Check out Crossroads performing Now O’clock at the Palm Creek Folk Festival:

Crossroads will be supporting Donovan Frankenreiter at Jezzine Barracks early next month – details and ticket info is in our Gig Guide.If you would like your band to be featured on the site, please contact us via the form in the ‘About Us’ section, send us a message on Facebook or email us direct at girlatarockshow (at) Hotmail (.) com with the subject ‘Band Intro’.